AGENDA and MINUTES - Pillar 3 subcommittee meeting, December 5, 2023

Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security

Subcommittee on Pillar 3: Ensure Just and Equitable Access to Economic Security Programs

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 1:00-2:00 PM

Recording

Members:

Agenda:

1. Welcome/Roll Call
2. Public Comment - subject to written comment in advance
3. Approval of Meeting Minutes: September 18, 2023
4. Introduction/Overview
   1. Meeting structure
   2. Review of each current goal and updates
5. Discussion/Breakout Session
   1. Goal 1
   2. Goal 2
   3. Goal 3
   4. Goal 4
6. Closing
   1. Next Steps
   2. Adjournment

MINUTES

Subcommittee members in attendance:

1. Sophie Milam - Chair
2. Kimberly Tate - representative of Senator Kimberly Lightford, Commission member
3. Jenny Aguirre - IWGP member
4. Erion Malasi - public member
5. Niya Kelly - public member
6. Meegan Dugan Adell - public member
7. Jeremy Rosen - public member
8. Leslie Cully - public member/IDHS SME

Facilitators:

1. Matthew Rodriguez - Facilitator, Institute of Research on Race and Public Policy (IRRPP)
2. Ni'Shele Jackson - Facilitator/Researcher, IRRPP

Administrator: Dana Kelly, IDHS-Associate Secretary of Disability Services and Education and Facility Operations

1. Welcome/Roll Call - 8 members out of 15 were present. Quorum was reached.
2. Approval of Meeting Minutes: September 18, 2023
   • Chair Milam moved to approve the September 18, 2023 meeting minutes, seconded by Erion Malasi. The group unanimously approved the September 18, 2023 meeting minutes.
3. Review of each current goals and updates
   1. Goal 1 - Develop an interagency map that links eligibility criteria across benefit options
      • Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) has built a crosswalk that includes CCAP, Headstart, Early Headstart, LIHEAP, SNAP and Medicaid.
      • Chair Milam proposed for the group to figure out how to contract with someone to do a more expanded crosswalk and add more programs to the existing one.
      • Ni'Shele has reached out to Benefits Data Trust (no partnership with Illinois) who has done a simplification mechanism on benefit application for other states and can be invited to the group.
      • IDHS also had a project called No Wrong Door where a lot of mapping was done but it didn't push through. Ni'Shele is trying to reach out to people who worked on it to see where the subcommittee can pick up from the project.
      • The State recently passed a law that will build its own health insurance exchange that is better than the federal system. Construction will take consideration of the ABE portal and other benefits system across the state.
      • Ms. Jenny Aguirre shared that somebody from HFS was looking at best practices at other states but the person is currently on maternity leave.
      • Ms. Leslie Cully raised that adding a program to an existing system gets complicated due to how state agencies are structured; e.g. in some state agencies Medicaid is in a completely separate agency whereas it's integrated in Illinois in 2 agencies. The webbing of all the data is driven by differences in federal regulations, differences in confidentiality requirements across programs. The process will be seamless if an individual shares everything and indicates to whom his/her information can be shared with rather than having different webs of interagency agreements to get the information shared across programs.
      • Ms. Cully gave an example which was the web call service with Illinois Tollways. The individual who was eligible for SNAP was automatically eligible for the reduced rates and transponder. The individual applying told Illinois Tollways that IDHS has the permission to confirm with them that he/she receives SNAP. With that individual's consent, the spider web of interagency agreements was avoided.
      • Administrator Kelly suggested to figure out what conclusions can be drawn out from GCFD's mapping project and see if there's anything that the subcommittee can push forward. She also suggested to revisit the implementation of the state-based health insurance exchange and how will it impact the front door and determine recommendations that the subcommittee can push.
      • Chair Milam asked for suggestions on other programs that can be included in the existing crosswalk aside from the ones that Ms. Meegan Adell suggested in the chat (EITC, CTC, CDCC). However, she reminded the group that the decision-making does not lie with the group and asked whether the membership composition should be changed.
      • Meegan volunteered to work with workgroup 1 with regards to mapping eligibility for EIC, figuring out the process for getting EIC and how to get support in getting it into the ABE system. Although their work on it is currently on hold because IDoR is very busy at this time of year, they are expecting a lot of work on EIC in the next year.
   2. Goal 2 - Collaborate with IDoR to include the basic elements for confirming EITC in the application on ABE.
      • There is a need to invite an expert from IDoR to talk about how to make sure everyone eligible gets the EIC and the possibility of linking it in ABE since ABE already asks a lot of questions that are tax-related.
      • Another potential way to deal with the issue of getting the EIC is making filing taxes easier.
      • Mr. Erion Malasi flagged that on the federal level, IRS is working to create a direct file tool where people can both file their state and federal taxes directly with IRS for free. Illinois already offers free filing but only for state taxes and not federal taxes. The IRS direct file tool will simplify the process assuming that the pilot program goes well. It will also reduce the costs because some private companies charge people for filing state taxes even though filing federal taxes is free.
      • Meegan said they are keeping track of what happens with the IRS Direct E-filing pilot because they are hopeful that may also create another opportunity to streamline this. However, Commissioner Werfel signaled in the spring that he didn't plan to include pre-filing (the IRS entering info from their records) into that system.
      • Erion also shared his discussions with some legislators around categorical eligibility. If someone is eligible for a public benefits program such as SNAP, people can share that information with IDoR or they can check a box on their taxes that says they are participating in such programs and then they would automatically receive the EITC. IDoR would use the information available from these benefits programs to provide EITCs to people regardless if they file their taxes.
      • Erion gave an update on CTC as well. HB 3950, aimed to create a child tax credit for Illinois, has gone through the legislative process. His team has secured sponsorship in the Senate and support from a couple of representatives. They have developed an amendment that reduces the total cost of the package from a $700 to $800 million bill to about $300 million - smaller child tax credit but for a larger base of families covering about half of all kids in Illinois. The campaign for the bill is supported by the Cost of Living Refund Coalition which focuses on medium and low-income families. Erion will send a one-pager on the amendment once he gets approval from the Coalition.
      • The work on Child Tax Credit is under Pillar 1 but there is no specific goal on it and since the experts on CTC are in Pillar 3, the subcommittee will instead continue to work on it.
      • Chair Milam shared to the group the letter that was crafted by Pillar 1 to support the WIC program and added that Pillar 3 can do the same thing to support CTC.
   3. Design an advocacy strategy toward securing guaranteed income (GI) programming beyond 2024
      • Erion shared that the Coalition has been working with a group around cash to expand guaranteed income with the City and Cook County and has started thinking about a state-level GI proposal. The Coalition has done community organizing around GI and has expanded cash access to state-wide tax credits like the EITC expansion and hopefully to CTC this year. Cook County is committed to the GI pilot program and the Coalition has received renewed commitment from the new Chicago mayor for a permanent GI program.
      • The DHS Homeless GI program that ran last year and the GI program that will be continuing in the coming school year originated with the backing of the Poverty Commission. Thus, the subcommittee can focus on whatever the next stage for GI is and then propose to the Poverty Commission for its support.
   4. Coordinate with the Commission to End Hunger to develop/support a dissemination strategy to amplify the impact of designed materials so as to increase the uptake to important programs and benefits
      • Chair Milam shared the Nutrition Program Marketing Campaigns of the Commission to End Hunger which could use the Poverty Commission's support.
      • The awareness programs are for WIC, SNAP and the Summer EBT program.
      • Materials have been developed for the WIC campaign and dissemination plan is being developed. The targeted networks are those that interact with families with young children, early intervention, home visiting, pediatricians and even libraries where families can get campaign materials on WIC. The materials are to be disseminated in 2024. Dissemination plan can be shared in the next meeting to identify any gaps.
      • For the SNAP campaign, the target populations are the older adults who face mobility barriers that reduce the likelihood of applying and the immigrants who face language barriers and fear that public benefits will impact their immigration status. Insight research with program participants has been completed and the dissemination approach is being developed with the help of an advisory group. The campaign materials will be distributed through communities with strong networks of trusted community-based organizations which are trusted by the target populations. The materials will be developed over the winter and spring as well as the dissemination plan. Dissemination is targeted later in 2024.
      • Mr. Rosen mentioned that they have a lawyer who conducts trainings on immigrant eligibility for benefits. She can be connected to the subcommittee on issues of immigrant fear in applying for assistance.
      • The Summer EBT is a new program which will follow the pandemic EBT program in terms of the campaign to families with school age children. DHS and ISBE will be working together to implement the program; ISBE will establish kids' eligibility and DHS will distribute the benefit cards.
4. Closing
   1. Next Steps
      • Meegan requested to have a refresher discussion on the next meeting about the original vision and powers of the subcommittee and what are the resources the group have at their disposal.
   2. Adjournment
      • Chair Milam moved to adjourn the meeting seconded by Erion. The group unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at 2:00 PM.